Line throwing gun and cartridge

ABSTRACT

FOR USE WITH A CONVENTIONAL SHOTGUN A CARTRIDGE WHICH IS EXTERNALLY SIMILAR TO A CONVENTIONAL SHOTGUN CARTRIDGE BUT IS SOLID INTERIORLY EXCEPT FOR A THROUGH PASSAGE, SAID PASSAGE HAVING AN ENLARGED END FOR THE PROPELLANT.

June 8, 1971 a. w. HUEBNER 3,583,087

LINE THROWING GUN AND CARTRIDGE Filed Oct. 22, 1969 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 MW' Georye W/Yuebner By M We;

June 8, 1971 G. w. HUEBNER LINE THROWING GUN AND CARTRIDGE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Oct. 22, 1969 w w W 2 9 6 7 y w Q \m\/ u 4 AG 6 6 /L 7 w M D 0 United States Patent 3,583,087 LINE THROWING GUN AND CARTRIDGE George W. Huebner, Middlefield, Conn. Harrington & Richardson Inc., 320 Park Ave., Worcester, Mass. 01610) Continuation-impart of abandoned application Ser. No. 704,418, Feb. 9, 1968. This application Oct. 22, 1969, Ser. No. 871,454

Int. Cl. F41c 27/06 US. Cl. 421 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE For use with a conventional shotgun a cartridge which is externally similar to a conventional shotgun cartridge but is solid interiorly except for a through passage, said passage having an enlarged end for the propellant.

This application is a continuation-in-part of my prior application Ser. No. 704,418 filed Feb. 9, 1968, now abandoned.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Line throwing guns have used ordinary shotgun blank cartridges and this makes a violent recoil that is dangerous. If not handled by one familiar with the operation of such guns and their projectiles, injuries often result.

SUM MARY OF THE INVENTION In general, the object of the present invention is accomplished by providing an initial restriction and a subsequent expansion chamber for propellant gases so that whereas the same amount of energy as in the prior art is applied to the projectile to eject it relative to the muzzle of the gun, this energy is spread over a longer interval of time and therefore a great amount of the recoil is absorbed and does not jar the operator of the gun.

Specifically a cartridge provides the propelling gases and this cartridge has a through passage with an enlarged chamber for the propellant. The cartridge then has a high velocity restricted or necked in portion immediately receiving the gases from the chamber, and immediately subsequent there is an enlarged chamber, the barrel of the gun, providing for lower velocity of the expanding gases from the end of the high velocity passage to the point of impingement upon the projectile at the muzzle.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a view in elevation with parts in section illustrating the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view on an enlarged scale of the breech end of a barrel used in the new line throwing gun;

FIG. 3 is a view similar to FIG. 2 but showing a section through a substantially conventional shotgun illustrating the projectile impelling insert positioned in the breech;

FIG. 4 is a view on an enlarged scale looking in the direction of arrow 4 in FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal section on an enlarged scale through the insert shown in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a section on an enlarged scale through the canister storing the cord for the gun;

FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate different forms of projectiles with relation to the muzzle of the line throwing gun of FIG. 1 or a conventional shotgun using the insert described, and

FIGS. 9 and 10 are sections showing modifications of the insert of FIG. 5.

Patented June 8, 1971 In FIG. 1 there is shown a representation of a firearm having a barrel 10 and in this case a conventional stock 12, forearm 14, receiver 16, and hammer 18, the latter being operated for instance in a well known manner by trigger 20. In this case the breech of the barrel 10 is indicated at 22 and at the muzzle end thereof as at 24 there is provided a projectile 26 which is adapted to be projected in a manner to be described having attached to it a cord 28 wound in a canister 30, the latter having a detachable connection at 32 to a bracket 34 mounted on barrel 10. As will be seen from the description hereinafter, the firearm shown in FIG. 1 may be essentially a more or less conventional shotgun or it may be a line throwing gun per se as with a special barrel to be described and shown in more detail in FIG. 2.

In FIG. 2 the barrel of the gun is indicated by the reference numeral 10a. Its breech is indicated at 36 and it is chambered to receive a cartridge 38 which is in essence a blank cartridge having a crimped nose 40. This cartridge may have a primer 42 more or less as usual and a chamber which is indicated at 44 is made to accept this cartridge although the chamber can be made for cartridges of lesser or greater size, depending upon the circumstances for which the particular line throwing gun may be designed.

The chamber 44 converges along gently curved lines 46 into a high velocity passage or chamber 48. It will be seen that this chamber is very short and leads into a greatly enlarged expansion chamber 50.

When the cartridge 38 is ignited, the gases are compressed in general as they pass through the high velocity chamber 48 and thereafter expand abruptly in the expansion chamber 50. The gases of course continue to expand and will arrive at the muzzle of the barrel where they impinge upon the projectile 26 and eject it. The projectile 26 may be connected to cord 28 and will be projected with the cord secured to it.

The eflect of this construction is that the gas being first compressed and then abruptly expanded into a chamber of much greater volume than the high velocity passage or chamber, does not actually lose energy to any greate extent but it takes it a considerable time to provide for impact on the projectile such as to launch it. This relatively long period of time provides for a longer, slower but in total, generally equal impact upon the projectile as would be the sharp, quick impact which is normally imparted to the projectile in the conventional line throwing gun.

In turn the effect of this action is that the projectile has applied to it substantially equal energy but over a longer period of time so that a great large amount of the normally extremely high recoil of this kind of gun is absorbed and the operator is not injured or staggered as he is by the relatively sharp impact received by the conventional line throwing gun.

The same inventive concept may be applied to an insert which is generally indicated at 52 and this can be used with a more or less conventional shotgun barrel which is generally indicated at 54. The insert is shown in section in FIG. 5. It may have a rim at 56 for lodging in the breech of the shotgun barrel 54 more or less in the normal manner of a cartridge in the breech of a shotgun. The insert 52 is provided with a chamber 58 for the cartridge 60 which is generally equivalent to the construction at 38, 44 in FIG. 2 and also the chamber 58 gradually curves along lines 62 into the high velocity narrow passage or chamber 64 which leads into the eX- pansion chamber which is the bore 68 of the shotgun barrel 54.

It will be seen that in general the period of operation is the same as before but in this case the conventional shotgun can be used together with the insert 52 which may be made of suitable plastics so that the insert may be used and thrown away or in some cases reloaded once more and used again.

On the other hand the chamber 58 may itself be loaded, and closed by an end cap with a primer therein, and the insert 52 itself is then a cartridge with the high velocity chamber and expansion chamber as above described. In this case the insert would be used in the manner of a shotgun shell, and after having been used, it can be thrown away and replaced.

In reference to the canister 30 shown in detail in FIG. 6, it is preferred that it have the cord 28 therein coiled so as to extend from the inner portion of the wound cord in the canister as indicated in FIG. 6, so that it proceeds from the center of the canister as it is withdrawn. In this case it proceeds more smoothly than would otherwise be the case. In addition there is provided an elastomeric washer member 70 seated on an annular shoulder 72 interiorly of the canister and fitting it to be held in a releasable condition therein. Supposing that a knot formed in the cord, the knot will carry the member 70 out of the canister and there will therefore be no interference between such knot and the canister itself as would tend to form a jerk forward on the gun barrel as is the case with prior art canisters. This device therefore forms a safety device of a very simple nature for the purpose described.

Many kinds of projectiles may be used. In FIGS. 7 and 8 the barrel of the gun whether the line throwing gun of FIG. 2 or a regular shotgun of FIG. 3, is indicated as at 74. The projectile 26a in FIG. 7 may be made to fit completely inside the bore of the muzzle of the barrel as shown, or it may be made cylindrical in the manner shown in FIG. 8, in which case none of the projectile enters the muzzle of the gun but surrounds it.

It is also to be understood that many different heads may be provided on these projectiles such as grapnels, movable fiukes, spearheads, etc., and as a matter of fact grenade launching devices may be utilized and explosive material may be used for the cord so as to provide for clearing mine fields.

Many other uses of this invention are possible and the gun is much more versatile than prior art devices of like nature for the reason that an operator may shoot the gun as often as needed without injury to his person; whereas this is not possible with the tremendous recoils found in devices of the prior art.

The insert device of FIG. 5 may be made adjustable so as to vary the energy of the propellant especially in cases where it is desired to send a projectile a certain distance which may be less than that afforded by the fixed type shown in FIG. 5. This may be done by providing a sleeve 76 threaded or otherwise longitudinally adjustably secured with respect to the exterior at 78 of the part of the insert 80 which contains the chamber 82 and a part of the high velocity passage 84. Sleeve 76 has a small central sleeve 86 slidable in the passage 84. Adjusting the member 76 relative to the member 80 will change the effective length of the high velocity passage and thus the effect or amount of energy which is applied to the projectile. This can be calibrated as desired.

Such an adjustment may also be made with a collet and spring fingers as shown in FIG. 10 wherein the cartridge chamber portion of the device is indicated at 88, the spring fingers at 90 and the adjustable collet or the like at 92, and it will be clear that by turning the collet with relation to the chamber portion of the device for instance by means of screw threads 94, the spring fingers will be brought in closer toward each other or will on the other hand spring apart under their own resilience, thus changing the effective volume of the high velocity passage.

I claim:

1. The combination of a shotgun having a barrel, a breech, a firing mechanism and a projectile mounted on the muzzle of the barrel, and wherein said barrel is substantially uniform in section from end to end thereof,

with a separable cartridge shell for quick and easy manual application to and removal from the breech, said cartridge shell being solid and cylindrical and smooth surfaced at its exterior from end to end thereof and having a complete through passage from end to end thereof, and a rim at the breech end of the cartridge shell,

said passage comprising an enlarged chamber at the breech end of the cartridge shell for the reception of a blank cartridge, the barrel, projectile and cartridge shell forming an enlarged expansion chamber at the opposite end of the shell,

and a restricted passage in the cartridge shell located between the two chambers, whereby upon ignition of the propellant, there is provided a period of relatively high velocity of the expanding gases in the restricted passage in the shell and a period of lower velocity of the expanding gases in the expansion chamber in the barrel, whereby after a short period of high velocity there is a longer period of low velocity prior to impingement of the expanding gases on the projectile, so that the resultant recoil is greatly reduced.

2. The firearm of claim 1 including means providing for adjustment of the volume of the expansion chamber in said shell.

3. The firearm of claim 1 including means providing for adjustment of the volume of the expansion chamber in said shell, said last-named means including a member adjustable longitudinally thereof for changing the length of the expansion chamber.

4. The firearm of claim 1 including means providing for adjustment of the volume of the expansion chamber in said shell, including spring fingers and a collet adjustable to compress or selectively to allow said spring fingers to expand.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 8/1959 Senutovitch 42--77 5/1967 Barr 421 (F) SAMUEL W. ENGLE, Primary Examiner 

